author For RESO members, voting for new members to the RESO Board of Directors is happening right now. If you’re listed as the contact for your organization, you should have received an email with a link to place your vote.
As a sitting Board member (not up for re-election), I haven’t previously advocated for any specific candidates, including myself. In part, because the entire slate generally is qualified and each candidate would bring an interesting perspective to the Board but also because advocating for some and not others creates challenges working together within or outside of the Board.
This year, however, the slate of candidates for the MLS category is quite large and so I thought it couldn’t hurt to highlight a few folks I think would be great, namely Chris Carrillo, Michael Bustamante, and Kurt von Wasmuth. All the other candidates are great as well but these are the three for whom I think you should vote.
As President and CEO for Metro MLS in Milwaukee, Chris brings a lot of experience as an MLS leader and also brings a national perspective through his leadership efforts with CMLS and the NAR. (Full disclosure, Metro MLS is an FBS customer.)
I got to know Michael Bustamante when he was with Southwest MLS in Albuquerque (also an FBS customer) but he’s now the MLS technology lead for the St. Augustine and St. John’s Boards of REALTORS in Florida (not an FBS customer). Michael brings a ton of experience in the MLS industry, understands both broker and MLS needs, and is forward-looking while simultaneously being very focused on creating working and workable implementations.
Last but certainly not least, I advocate for Kurt von Wasmuth from RMLS in Portland. Kurt not only brings MLS perspective as the President and CEO for RMLS but he also brings a software development perspective as RMLS creates their own MLS software. Essentially, you’re getting two for the price of one with Kurt!
In sum, I encourage you to vote for all three of these MLS leaders as they are exactly who we need leading and advocating for RESO!
P.S. If there were four open positions, I’d advocate for Nick Fowler, who took Michael’s position in Albuquerque. Nick doesn’t bring as much experience as the other three candidates but he has a strong MLS background and a fresh perspective I think would be useful, and he’s certainly someone to look for in future elections!